Mutants and an Alchemist
by band20
Summary: A Fullmetal Alchemist and Xmen Evolution crossover, Edward Elric stumbles into more trouble when he crosses from the Gate and lands in the Xmen's world.
1. Exchange Part 1

**AN: I would like to officially say that I don't own either Fullmetal Alchemist or X-men Evolution. If I did well things would be great but I don't so there. Those things aside anything I only own my own characters so this one should be very interesting. Let's see where this one takes me, I'm thinking it will be a short one but who knows. Take it easy and don't forget to review. **

Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's First Law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only, truth. - Alphonse Elric

Edward Elric, the eldest of the two brothers stood before the Gate of Alchemy or Truth if you called it that. Truth is after all such a subjective thing, and that doesn't change from looking at a gate. This was however his chance, the chance to set things right for his brother and he wasn't going to let it pass him by. He watched as the dark creatures that seemed to live inside of the gate reached out for him; it was time for him to make his sacrifice to get his brother Alphonse back.

"Come on take me you damn bastards, this is fair right. Me for him, hurry up and get it over with damn it." Edward yelled at the dark creatures, they moving faster in response to what they had heard.

It only took a few more seconds as he was dragged into the gate, turning a little to see the gate doors slam shut behind him. He said nothing and really thought about nothing as he was pulled through the gate until he yelled out in pain. The little creatures had taken his right arm and left leg once more. He continued to yell in pain as he noticed something that had escaped his first visit to the damnable darkness, another gate waiting at the end. This gate however, looked very unusual as some kind of energy started to course through the gate, it seemingly opening itself for Edward.

'Another exit is that even possible, what the hell is going on here. Where are these bastards taking me exactly, I have to wonder what exactly is on the other side. It doesn't matter though I have to make my way back to Al, I just have too. Why is it glowing like that, something isn't quite right for some damn reason with that gate.' Ed thought as he was literally thrown towards the exit by the little dark creatures that seemed to run the gate.

Ed covered his eyes with his left hand as he was surrounded by a bright light and seemingly spit out of the gate. He could hear all kinds of noises that he assumed were automobiles, the young man crawling over to a corner. He was without his recently recreated right arm and left leg, once again the two had been taken from him and now he couldn't stand or walk. He looked around the area carefully trying to figure out where he was only to find himself in an alley between a few taller buildings.

"Hey any one there," Edward started as he attempted to call for help, "I wouldn't mind some assistance, damn gate taking my body parts again. I swear I'll blow that thing to bits if it spits out another homunculi like Wrath or Envy."

Ed started to draw a transmutation circle on the ground with a piece of chalk that he had, 'I hope this works, I normally use two hands but it's not like I got a lot of choices right now. Come on I don't want any one finding me naked damn it.'

Pushing his left hand down on the ground he felt the familiar surge of alchemy happening and sure enough he was creating some clothes for him. Up until this point the short alchemist had been naked but now he at least had a cloak to cover himself. He tried calling for help one more time, seeing no one appear to help him, the young man leaned his back against the wall seemingly lost in thought since no one could hear him.

'Some how I just know that arrogant bastard Mustang is going to pop out and talk about how he had to save my ass again. If he does as soon as I get my automail back I am so going to kick his ass. I am kind of worry about how the others are doing right now.' Edward thought as he looked up thinking that he saw a friendly face.

**Xavier Institute**

Charles Xavier rubbed his chin after using Cerebro to detect a new mutant signature. At least he thought it was a new mutant, a little over an hour ago Cerebro had activated and showed him the picture of a short blond headed young man with only one arm and leg. It was a very unusual finding in Bayville before that moment this young man had never shown up before on his searches. Using his gift he could see the young man just resting against a back wall that was until he was disrupted by Logan and Scott's arrival.

"Logan I have a new recruit for you to pick up, you might want to take Jean and Scott with you now that they are out of high school. I would send more but I'm not for sure how this particular person will react. This picture is all we have to go on, and the name Edward Elric but you may want to be cautious." Professor Xavier stated as he looked over to witness his two oldest students nodding in agreement.

"No problem Chuck I'll go get the short one for ya, how hard could it be?" Logan barked as he motioned for the two of them to follow him.

"You may want to avoid calling him that Logan," Charles stated seeing his friend looking at him oddly, "our new possible friend has an issue with his height. He also seems to share your short temper when it comes to a few things."

"Professor," Jean interrupted slowly not wanting to be disrespectful, "what are we going to do about his…"

Professor Xavier merely smiled at his students concern before answering, "I've already contacted Forge and Hank is making preparations as well. That is at the moment all I can do for him if he decides to come back with you."

"Okay then, it doesn't look like this will be much of a problem, but how come we are leaving all of a sudden to pick him up Professor and what are his abilities exactly?" Scott asked curious as to who this new recruit was exactly.

"I'm sorry Scott but the only thing I got from Cerebro was his name and location." Professor Xavier stated as they all looked at him, "I do not know what to expect from his abilities so be careful."

"Anything else we need to know about shortie here," Logan growled more than ready to get this little mission over with so he could get back.

"I must remind you that hostility towards mutants has decreased lately but there are still problems even though it has been a year after Apocalypse defeat. Our new friend seems to have landed in a bad part of Bayville so please get him here quickly." Professor Xavier spoke as the three nodded and quickly left the room to carry out their assignment.

The Professor slowly turned back to return to Cerebro as the three left him to find Edward Elric. Sending just three individuals on a recruiting mission was something that he wanted to avoid but he didn't want to drive Edward away by sending a lot of people to meet him. He decided that keeping a close eye on the four of them by using Cerebro, locking onto Edward's signal.

Edward Elric looked up from his spot, he couldn't figure out if these people were ignorant or just plain stupid. He had spent twenty minutes yelling for help, and not a single damn person had come to look at him. A rather large smirk appeared on his face as he thought about the chaos he could cause these idiots for not helping him, but that disappeared a moment later.

'Maybe these idiots are afraid of alchemists or something, or maybe they are deaf. I swear I would use some alchemy to get me out of this mess but it's kind of hard to use it with only one hand. If only I had my other hand then I could…' Edward thought as a shadow started to block out his light.

"Hey dumb ass you are blocking my light," Edward barked a little pissed that someone had interrupted him as he looked down the alley seeing a black van and three individuals starring at him.

"Hey bub you Edward Elric," Logan growled as he watched the young man look at Logan for a moment.

"About damn time someone finally hears me or better yet recognizes the Fullmetal Alchemist, or maybe Mustang must have finally gotten off his ass and…" Edward stopped talking immediately upon seeing their confused looks.

'Jean is the Professor sure this guy might not need some psychological help. I don't even understand what he is saying.' Scott thought as Jean looked at him and then Edward.

'No he isn't crazy but I'm having a very hard time reading his thoughts. I don't know what is going on here.' Jean replied sending a message through the link the two of them had.

"I don't who you people are," Ed barked, "but you better back off. I'm a damn good alchemist and good enough to deal with you three even without my right arm."

"Bub, we just want to talk with you, we can help you with your gift and with your little problem of not having any limbs." Logan growled in response as his eyes met Ed's for the first time.

"Gift what the hell are you talking about old man, I'm an alchemist and I don't need your damn help. Well maybe a little, you know where I can get some automail at and some clothes." Ed stated he quickly reminded himself of two problems that he currently had to deal with before he could get back to his friends and family.

"Shortie you sure you didn't hit your head, you are talking like a crazy man." Logan growled as Ed's entire face changed.

"Hey old timer, I'm not short so make sure to get that straight. As soon as I get some automail I'm going to kick your ass for that comment. No one calls me short," Ed barked as his face showed off his anger and temper, "Hey old timer you listening to me, tell me where to get some automail and I'll let this slide."

"I'm sorry Edward but we have never heard of automail before, perhaps if you tell us what it is we might be able to help you." Jean commented attempting to stop the growing argument since Ed had grown even more hostile now that Logan seemed to be ignoring him.

Ed looked at her curiously before replying, "How could you have not heard of automail, it's the mechanical limbs a person gets when they lose one for some reason or another."

"Oh you mean a prosthetic limb or something along that line," Scott stated as Ed started to laugh at him in response.

"Hell no who would want one of those out dated pieces of shit, automail is like having a real limb except you cant feel anything and its metallic. Man what backwards hell hole did I land in if you don't have automail?" Ed barked in response, looking at the confused faces of Scott and Jean.

"Well this is certainly a problem because as I've said before I've never heard of automail and the United States is probably the most advanced country on Earth. What about you Logan?" Scott asked curiously as he looked at the person he cared about.

"Never heard of it shades, I think shorties memory is messed up or he is delusional." Logan growled in response watching with a slight grin as the young man tried to stand up.

"Old timer just you wait," Ed boasted as he shook his left hand at Logan, "as soon as I get some automail I'm going to kick your ass for this."

Jean calmly intervened once more before the situation deteriorated, "Ed, I understand this is confusing but we would like to help you."

"What the hell is the United States? At least tell me what day it is, and your names. You know mine but you haven't introduced yourselves at all." Ed stated as his smile started to fade away due to the lack of information he seemed to be receiving.

"Uh well I'm Scott and this is my girlfriend Jean. That there is Mr. Logan; he is an instructor at the Xavier Institute. By the way it's the second day of May and the year is 2005." Scott answered seeing a shocked look at Ed's face.

"I don't know who the hell you are trying to fool but you better back off right now. I'm not afraid of you guys, and I've never heard of this so called Xavier Institute. Better not be some kind of new military group, I can't stand the military." Ed boasted as he looked cautiously at them.

Ed stared at them, his mind quickly running through the possibilities, 'I don't know who these people are, but they are starting to annoy me. Particularly the one that keeps calling me short, but it can't be that date. It just can't be 100 years in the future, what about Al, Winry and the others, what happened to them. It's just doesn't make sense, there isn't a way to time travel with alchemy so how can that be possible unless that damn gate did this. Damn it I don't know what is going on or who I can trust.'

"Please calm down we aren't trying to hurt you. In fact we want to help you." Jean stated calmly, the young man seemed to have gone into shock when Scott told him the time and date.

"Lying bastards, I don't believe you, it just can't be that date." Ed yelled his temper getting the best of him as he starred at the three.

Ed just starred at him quickly using the chalk to draw a transmutation symbol on the wall that was right next to him. He was preparing to use his only hand to create some kind of defense when he stopped and fell to the ground. He felt pain coming from his body and could feel that he was about to pass out. He took one last look at the red haired girl and the guy with unusual glasses before passing out in pain.

'I hate it when this happens why I couldn't just get one transmutation off. I'm sorry Al; I really wanted to make it back to you and Winry. We could have all been together again but I think these people might be the ones that finally kill me.' Ed thought as he passed out from pain, Logan and Scott picking up his body when they realized that he was only wearing a piece of cloth.

"I wonder what he was trying to do," Jean said as she looked at the symbol he drew on the wall using a camera phone to take a picture of it for the Professor before catching up to Scott and Logan placing the young man inside of the van.

"Hey red lets go, I got better stuff to do than baby sit right now." Logan growled as Jean climbed into the van waiting patiently as the van drove off with Edward Elric inside.

"Scott that mark he placed on the wall was really weird; I've never seen anything quite like it. I wonder if it has something to do with his mutant ability. He seemed very on edge for the most part." Jean said as they looked at the young man in the back he seemed to be mumbling something about equivalent exchange.

"I wish I knew Jean," Scott replied as he looked over at her, "I don't know but this kid doesn't seem right if you ask me, he talked about alchemy and alchemist as if they were real. I'm sure the Professor knows what he is doing though."

"Winry, Al, I'm so sorry that I wont be making it back. I promise that I'll…" Ed mumbled seemingly enough still unconscious from all of the pain.

No one said anything else after that comment from the unconscious man; Logan had already taken the liberty of informing the Professor of their arrival. It was Logan who drove the van back into a garage where Kurt was waiting to teleport Ed down to the infirmary. Jean and Scott opened the door slowly allowing him to carefully grab the young man and teleport him down to the infirmary in a puff of smoke.

"Dr. McCoy, here ve are, you might vant to hurry. He definitely doesn't look very vell." Kurt spoke his German accent coming through as Dr. Hank McCoy quickly appeared.

Dr. McCoy grabbed a tray of medical instruments before speaking, "Thank you Kurt, I'll handle it from here. If you could go get Forge and the Professor for me I would appreciate."

"Ja, I vill be right back." Kurt answered as he disappeared in a puff of sulfur once more leaving the young man alone with the medical expert.

"Well my young friend, I don't know how you were injured the way that I see you now, but it certainly will be a fascinating story. Now let's see what is wrong with you exactly." Dr. McCoy spoke trying to in his own unique way comfort the Elric who had been brought to him.

He was easily surprised by the marks on the boy, his right arm, and left leg seemed to have been torn cleanly off. That made absolutely no sense to the man, it was impossible for wounds to be this clean and to be sealed the way they were without some form of treatment or another. The other thing that he found unusual about the young man's injuries was the fact that he seemed to have been conscious up until he was brought back to the institute. He looked up from the young man seeing Forge and Professor Xavier entering the room.

"How is our young friend doing Hank?" Professor Xavier spoke as he wheeled himself closer to the young man that had been recently brought in.

"Well I think that he willed himself to stay awake but what ever he tried to do when the others found him was just too much for his body to take. He just passed out from the pain apparently, but what I find more interesting are these clean wounds that he has. His right arm and left leg were cleanly taken off and sealed so he wouldn't bleed to death." Dr. McCoy spoke as he looked at the young man that he had been preparing for sedation.

"Hmm do what you can then, Forge I'll need you to look into creating better prosthetic limbs for him later preferably after he wakes up. I'm going to see if he said anything interesting to the others while he was conscious." Professor Xavier spoke as the two nodded in agreement, watching him disappear but not before taking a quick inquisitive look at Edward Elric.

'I have to admit young man that you seem to have dropped out of no where. I have no idea what is going on but clearly things are going to be very interesting when you wake up here soon. I wonder where you came from; I still don't know how you remained hidden from Cerebro. Granted there are a lot of mutants now, so it is possible that I have missed quite few. Even the military these days seems to have mutants being trained and hidden from me.' Professor Xavier thought as he continued to roll heading up stairs to meet with Scott, Jean, and Logan.

In another part of the institute, Scott and Jean had their own problems to deal with before meeting the Professor. The problem was that they were currently being hounded by the New Mutants, who as usual were always interested when someone new showed up the institute. Especially the girls were interested now that a new guy had shown up and since getting info from Scott and Jean was easier than Logan, the two were being bombarded with questions.

"Come on you guys; spill the beans about the new guy?" Tabby asked continually pestering the two until they finally decided to cave.

"Tabby I'm sorry we don't have time to answer that we have to meet the Professor right now." Scott stated politely, he knew that if he attempted anything different it probably wouldn't work.

"He's right Tabby," Jean added as she picked up where her boyfriend left off, "however, his name is Edward Elric and no we don't know what he can do. You should keep that in mind before you start flirting with him."

"Hmm so we only get a name, well you got to tell us if he is cute or not?" Jubilee asked, it was sort of a right of passage for talking about a new arrival that way.

Jean merely smiled before answering, "I'm sorry I didn't really consider that, now we had better get going before we are late."

"Jean, Scott," Kitty chimed in before the conversation could continue phasing half way into the room, "hey there you are I wanted to ask you to test this new recipe."

"Sorry Kitty we got a meeting with the Professor but I'm sure the others would be more than willing," Scott stated he had been desperately looking for an excuse the moment she mentioned testing her cooking.

Meanwhile back in the infirmary Edward finally managed to wake up some without filling pain. The young man mumbled something before trying to sit up and then immediately sat back down when pain went through his upper body. Ed just leaned back to his original position attempting to think of what he did to get into this situation.

"What the hell, how did I get here? Where the hell am I? Hello is there any one in here?" Ed questioned before taking a deep breathe and determining what the room was, "Ah damn I knew it not another hospital, I swear meeting all of those damn homunculi took ten years off my life."

'Damn I hate hospitals and what's worse is there is absolutely no one here. Then again it's not like I can go any where with out my other leg. Some where there has to be someone laughing at me.' Ed thought as the door to the room opened and a man covered in blue fur entered the room.

"What the hell are you? I've seen a lot of things but well you definitely weren't covered. Hey blue gorilla guy I'm talking to you, if you want a fight I'll be more than…I swear you better not be a chimera or something." Ed barked sarcastically, he wasn't in the best of moods and now this guy covered in blue fur had entered the room.

"Ah I must apologize if I startled you young man, I didn't expect you to wake up so soon to be honest with you. My name is Dr. Hank McCoy, I apologize if my condition startles you but I'm afraid this is how I normally look and I can assure you that I am not a chimera as you call them." Dr. McCoy spoke as Ed looked at him curiously.

"Well I guess I'll just have to trust you since I can't really move." Ed replied he wasn't thrilled about his current lack of limbs.

He was surprised as the man grabbed a chart and wrote some things down before responding, "I must admit that we are working on getting you some prosthetics, but I am very curious as to what took your limbs so completely."

"Yeah well that isn't something I want to talk about, tell me something is what they said about the date true. Is it really the 21st century?" Ed asked his mood a bit somber because of a few thoughts going through his head.

"Yes, that is the date, is there a problem?" Dr. McCoy asked as the young man looked at him nervously.

"Hmm, nothing that you got to worry about, so why can't you get me some automail surely there is someone that makes it if this is the date you say it is. I mean you should have some kick ass automail by now." Ed countered curious as to why no one seemed to know what automail was.

"Ah what is automail exactly? I've honestly never heard of it." Dr. McCoy answered causing a groan of frustration from Ed.

"I don't see why you are acting so clueless but fine I'll explain it to you the best I can. At least alchemy still works, it would be easier to show you if I had my other hand. I could just…" Ed spoke when the door to the infirmary hissed open.

Ed watched the door carefully, now that he thought about it the door seemed to open on its own. It didn't have any door handles and what surprised him more was to see an older man come in on a wheelchair. It was an interesting moment as the Professor seemed to look at Ed both just staring at each other. Ed couldn't help but get a creepy feeling when he looked at the Professor.

"So who are you? It's rude to interrupt someone while they are talking." Ed stated angrily, he was starting to become irritated with the entire situation.

"Hello Edward, I'm Professor Charles Xavier. I founded the Xavier Institute for people with gifts like ours." Professor Xavier spoke when he noticed a confused reaction being made.

"Gift, huh what the hell are you talking about. I don't have a gift; I'm just an alchemist that's all." Edward spoke not convince by what the man was saying.

"I see well then allow me to demonstrate and then we can talk further. We can also talk about this alchemy you keep referring to." Professor Xavier spoke placing his hands on his head and getting ready to contact the young man telepathically as he looked on seemingly deep in thought.

'I can't move and now I got a guy in what appears to be a motorized wheelchair talking to me. Better question would be what this damn gift is, it seems like everyone has been talking about it lately. I swear this place is even freakier than being a dog of the military, at least I sort of understood things then. What the hell this guy gives me the creeps, and I just want to get out of here and find out what happened to Al, Winry and the others.' Ed thought stopping for a moment when he heard a voice that was definitely not his in his head.

"Hey you bald guy get out of my head right now, I don't know how the hell you pulled that off and I don't care. You stay out of my head from now on understand." Ed barked, the Professor was very surprised by his violent out burst.

Professor Xavier stood there looking at him cautiously before speaking, "I apologize Edward I didn't mean to surprise you. I was just demonstrating the gift that I have, and you clearly have one as well."

"Okay that's enough about gifts, I just want to get some automail and I'll get out of your way. I got places to go and very important people to find." Ed spoke in a rather demanding tone as the Professor looked at him with a smile.

"I understand you are feeling very confused right now but if you'll let me I believe that I can help you, if you will let me." Professor Xavier said as Ed looked at him looking at him directly in the eyes.

"Hmm I don't know why but I trust you. What do you want from me exactly? Why are you trying to help me?" Ed asked his sarcastic attitude disappearing for a moment while he waited for an answer.

"I understand your confusion and if you'll allow me I believe it could go much faster if you'll allow me to enter your mind. We could share information that much faster by handling things this way." Professor Xavier answered as Ed looked at him and then nodded a response.

"Okay old timer," Ed started as he looked at the man, "but if anything goes wrong I'm haunting your ass or whatever the equivalent is on that matter. I don't want to end up messed up because of this so you better not screw up old timer."

Professor Xavier brought his hands up touching Ed's head preparing to enter his head. This would provide a lot of answer and help make the coming days a lot easier to handle in the long run. Edward focused on the information that the Professor was showing trying to make sense of everything that he was being shown. He looked on as the Professor stopped showing him images, the young man looking utterly confused.

"Could you guys leave me alone for a moment, I have a lot of things to think about now. I need to make sense of everything that I just learned." Edward spoke as the two nodded, as the young man stood there in deep thought about the situation.

'I don't understand everything he showed me but at least an hour passed when he gave me that information. This isn't my world, but another one the question is why I am here. This is definitely going to be a problem, but at least if I found my way here there has to be a way back.' Ed thought as he watched the two of them leave the room.

Next Chapter: Exchange Part 2

Ed meets the rest of the X-men and New Mutants after receiving a new set of limbs to help him move along. Problems continue to emerge however when he demonstrates alchemy to them for the very first time.


	2. Exchange Part 2

AN: Thanks for the reviews; I'm working as hard as I can to get a new ISP which is responsible for my delays in updating and responding to reviewers. It has been raining for about five days here and I can't get on my wireless internet when it rains. I'm working on fixing the situation. I also have been very sick as of late, so I'm not for sure how good this chapter is. Please be sure to let me know what you think of it and I'll try to get the next one out much sooner. Unfortunately that all depends on my health, take it easy, band 20.

Ed closed his eyes as he remained in the infirmary of the Xavier Institute, he was still trying to make sense of everything that he had been shown. Visions of new technology like fancy little devices with what appeared to be glass screens had been shown to him. He shook his head as he tried to make sense of the mess in his head before someone interrupted him in what appeared to be his only moment of peace.

'This world is completely different; it has technology that I well never would have thought of until now. Winry would love this, granted she would be trying to take everything here apart in an attempt to figure how things work. I find it hard to believe everything that I was shown, but I wonder why the gate sent me here.' Ed thought as he stared up at the ceiling attempting to figure things out.

Ed started to count the ceiling tiles when the door hissed open, the young man jumping a little at the door opening by pressing a button. His eyes glanced over noticing three individuals, two he recognized as the Professor and Dr. McCoy. The third was a young man carrying what appeared to be pieces of automail; the pieces were silver colored and a lot like the old pieces he used except they were a lot more streamlined and fancier in Ed's opinion.

"Good morning Professor, Dr. McCoy, so is that automail? I thought that you said automail didn't exist here." Ed stated slightly aggravated about being mislead regarding the situation.

"Hi my name is Forge, and what they said was the truth at the time," Forge replied calmly as he prepared the two to prosthetic limbs, "I designed these especially for you shortly after the Professor contacted me. It may require a few final adjustments though; I want to make sure that I got the lengths correct before Dr. McCoy begins the process of attaching them to you."

"Whatever, just hurry I want to get out of this damn bed already. You have no idea how long it feels since I've been able to get up and walk around." Ed replied as the three visitors merely smiled in response.

"Very well I'll begin preparing for the operation," Dr. McCoy started as Ed looked at him curiously; "you see we are going to use a new technique and technology to attach your new limbs. We will surgically attach a connecting device to your body and then insert your prosthetics."

"Sounds like the same thing to me, well get to work I'm sure it will hurt like a bit…" Ed started as the Professor shook his head no in response.

"First we have to make sure they are the right length and then make sure you get anesthesia so you don't feel anything while we attach the parts." Professor Xavier commented as Ed looked at him with a confused look on his face.

"Okay, but what's anesthesia?" Ed asked as Dr. McCoy let out a light laugh in response to the question.

"Anesthesia will allow us to operate on you without you feeling any pain or discomfort. Don't tell me that they attached this automail to you without giving you some, the pain would have to be well intense to say the least." Dr. McCoy answered as Ed merely nodded in response.

Ed bowed his head before responding, "I got something to dull the pain but nothing more was given to me. It was worth it, now would you please get started I want to walk and be able to use both hands soon."

"Very well, we'll get started as soon as you are under." Professor Xavier stated as Ed just leaned back in the bed closing his eyes as Dr. McCoy wheeled over a cart.

The cart held the aesthesia canisters as an air mask was slid over Ed's face. Dr. McCoy turned on the aesthesia watching as Ed went straight to sleep a few moments later. Professor Xavier watched as Forge handed over the new limbs. They were streamlined and metallic, a lot smoother and naturally more advanced than what were found in Ed's home. They continued the preparations for the surgery while Ed drifted off in sleep.

"This shouldn't be that hard," Dr. McCoy stated as he wheeled over a cart full of medical tools, "That being said however, I am concerned that this treatment might have unforeseen difficulties. After all I've never done anything quite like this before Charles."

"I know Hank, but this is the only chance that he really has for a normal life. He needs these limbs and I'm certain that you will try your best to get this done. In the meantime while Hank prepares for the surgery Forge could you show me everything that Ed will need to maintain his limbs?" Professor Xavier replied as Forge nodded, the two leaving the polished infirmary for a small storage room.

"Of course, it won't be that hard for him to take care of the arm and leg. Both limbs require some oil to keep them moving properly and I made sure that they both move as life like as possible. Besides the oil, there isn't anything else that he will need for maintaining my creations." Forge answered as the door hissed open revealing a small box with spare parts, oil, and finally two replacement limbs.

"I see you went ahead and made some back up replacements in case something happened. I really appreciate that Forge, Ed is one of the more unique individuals that have ever appeared at the Xavier Institute." Professor Xavier started as Forge looked around the small storage room, "We better get back in case Hank needs our helps with Ed's surgery. We have never done anything like this before, and who knows what will happen once we get started."

Both nodded before returning to the infirmary, almost all of the preparations done for the surgery. Walking over to a sink all three men washed their hands while Ed remained completely asleep due to the anesthesia. Taking a deep breath, the three took one last moment before beginning a stressful operation.

Upstairs in the institute Scott and Jean were relaxing with some soft music in the living room. The two had taken a very comfortable position on the couch with Jean using Scott's chest as a pillow. Most of the institute's occupants had gone out for the night and the two had decided to take the time for them while everyone else was gone. Kitty and most of the girls had gone to the mall, while the guys just scattered to the wind.

"Its so peaceful tonight," Jean began as Scott nodded in agreement, "I can't remember the last time the institute was this quiet."

Scott smiled softly before commenting, "I agree with you, it's nice to just have some time for us. I have to admit though I'm worried about the new guy that we picked up though."

"Yeah I can tell you are worried about him. I'm sure it isn't anything to worry about though, the Professor has been spending a lot of time talking with him after all." Jean spoke attempting to put Scott more at ease with the situation.

"Some how I just don't think that is enough," Scott replied as he looked at Jean, "Jean, you didn't happen to get a peak inside of Ed's head while we were transporting him back or talking with him. I know you don't mean to look but you occasionally pick up on things like that."

"That's the thing; I didn't get a very good look inside of his head. On the surface of his mind though he was very confused about the situation and what was going on. It seemed the date shocked him the most about the situation." Jean replied as they heard voices coming from the garage area, which meant the shopping trip had ended.

"Well so much for peace and quiet," Scott started as Jean laughed in response, "Guess it couldn't last forever though. Now that I think about it things have been really quiet lately though, hope this isn't the start of something that might cause us problems."

Jean stopped laughing before commenting, "You worry too much, I'm sure everything is fine. To be honest though, I just don't want to think about anything bad happening again. Apocalypse and that whole situation was a nightmare, so I really don't want anything else to happen."

"I can't say I blame you about that. Wonder what…" Scott said before a puff of sulfur smoke appeared in the room as Kurt teleported himself in the room.

"Sorry my freund for interrupting, but this iz an emergency. I really need your help; I don't know what to do." Kurt pleaded as Scott motioned for Jean to get off of him, the young man turning off the music before speaking.

"Okay, let's go. Sorry Jean, I'll make it up to you later." Scott said a soft smile on his face as he grabbed Kurt's shoulder, the two disappearing from Kurt's teleportation.

Jean didn't even get a chance to say anything merely sending her approval to Scott through the link they shared since the two had disappeared before she could respond. She was kind of disappointed that Kurt had interrupted the two of them, but he had said it was an emergency. Sighing slightly she walked out of the living room, deciding it was time to take advantage of the peace to get in some light reading.

Kurt and Scott ended up in Kurt's room, the room hadn't changed much since Kurt's arrival. Scott watched in slight amusement as Kurt paced the floor very nervous about something that was bothering him. Walking over to his friend Scott grabbed his shoulders, stopping the fur covered mutant from pacing to much.

"Okay Kurt, what is going on? I've never seen you this well nervous about something since well you went to meet Amanda's parents years ago." Scott commented as Kurt's eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of that event.

"Yeah vell that iz kind of related to the problem I have now," Kurt began as his thoughts went to that event which he considered to be the worse possible thing that could happen. "My liebe has finally convinced her parents to give me another chance and vell they are coming here in three days."

"That's great Kurt, so what is the problem exactly? This is what you have been waiting for after all, we all know how important this is to you." Scott replied as Kurt freed himself from Scott's grip and started to pace once more.

Kurt stopped pacing for a moment before answering, "I know that my freund, the problem iz that well I just don't know what to do. I'm so glad this happened, but this izn't going to be easy and well I could use a little advice."

"It's not a problem Kurt; you just go over there and be yourself. If they get to know the real you then this wont be a problem." Scott reasoned as his best friend nodded in agreement.

"But what if…" Kurt replied as his friend interrupted him.

"No what if nothing is is going to happen. You don't have anything to hide any more, so it isn't really a problem. Just focus on being you and well I am very sure everything will go fine, besides this is natural for guys. Meeting the parents is something even I had to do, believe me it is never easy but you'll be fine." Scott stated as he remembered his own meeting with Jean's parents.

"Danke, but that is only part of the problem, they also vant to meet my parents." Kurt said as Scott rubbed his chin in response, that was a difficult situation.

This was a bad situation; Kurt's foster family was in Germany, and his biological mother well Mystique hadn't been seen since Apocalypse. The shape shifting woman had literally dropped off the face of the earth after that situation was dealt with. This was a clearly the real problem that Kurt was facing, since he really didn't have family close by and well his biological mother wasn't someone that could be easily found.

"Well this is definitely a problem, between the two of us this shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure we will think of something, I'll lend you a hand." Scott replied as the two sat down quickly both moving into deep thoughts about what to do about the situation.

Back down in the infirmary, Dr. Hank McCoy had just finished the last attachment on Ed's prosthetic limbs. The limbs had fit perfectly, and Ed had literally slept through the entire operation. Wiping some sweat off of his face, Hank took a deep breath as he took a seat exhausted from the operation. It hadn't taken nearly as long as he thought it would have, in fact the operation had only taken two hours compared to the three or four that he was expecting.

"Well Charles, I've finally finished the operation. I suppose all that is left is to make sure that Ed's new limbs are fully functional." Hank spoke as the Professor wheeled over to the young man, the silver colored limbs shining slightly in the dull light.

"Yes, well I'm certain everything went fine considering the operation was finished well in advance." Professor Xavier started as he looked over at Forge who was on hand for technical support, "If you would like Forge you are more than welcome to stay for a little while. I would personally like to have you around in case something happens with Ed's limbs and we need your help to fix them."

"That's just fine with me; I don't really have anything else to do. College is so boring when you are genius, maybe there is something else I can help you out with while I am here. For now though, I'm thinking of getting something to eat." Forge replied as a murmur from Ed caused all three to look at the young man on the infirmary bed.

Ed's mouth moved no sound escaping until a few words came out, "Al, this is…what…we have…recreate your body."

"Whoa, no offense but you sure that anesthesia doesn't cause a few delusions. Nothing he said really made any sense." Forge replied as Professor Xavier looked over at Ed in response.

"That is nothing to worry about for the moment Forge, Hank could you please leave some clothes out for Ed in case he wakes up sooner than expected. I'm certain that our young friend is going to be very anxious to get out of that bed and move around for once." Professor Xavier spoke as Hank walked over to a drawer pulling out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.

"Of course Charles, but I will be in here supervising his recovery until he wakes up. It would after all be poor manners on our part to leave our guest alone in a place that he is unfamiliar with outside of this room naturally." Hank spoke as the Professor and Forge moved to leave the room.

"Professor, have you ever considered letting me make you a wheelchair that would be much more mobile than the one you have now. I'm certain the increased mobility would come in handy for you." Forge stated as the two disappeared from the room leaving Hank behind to watch the young man.

Hank took a deep breath before speaking to Ed, "Well my young new friend, I have completed the operation. All that is left is for you to wake up; I must admit that you are a most curious individual. I can't wait to have a detailed conversation with you about chimeras and why you are acting the way you are."

Two and a half hours passed very slowly for Hank, but for Ed the time did not pass as slowly. The young blond haired man was reliving some memories he had with Al and some other precious individuals. His first meeting with Mustang, the time that Al and him were left on the island by their teacher to learn alchemy, and the truth of what homunculi were replayed in his mind. The last memory was that moment when he used alchemy to what he hoped ended up restoring Al.

'I have no idea if that last ditch attempt worked, but some how I just know it did. I'll find my way back to my world that much I can promise you. Hopefully though, I can find my way back without much trouble. Then again I probably can't use the gate again; it probably wouldn't send me back without a huge cost in exchange. I'll have to find another way to get home.' Ed thought as he merely watched memories play, one moment in particular stood out when Ed learned Al had become the Philosopher's Stone.

'I remember that so well, that was the exact moment where we became sought after by not only the state but also the homunculi. I thought it would just be us, but then Mustang and the others came to help. Winry helped and so did many others, I hope that coup against the Fuhrer went well. Knowing that smug bastard Mustang though, he will be holding it over me as soon as I get back.' Ed thought as he remembered the meeting that had happened between them before he started to wake up.

Ed grunted as he sat up in the hospital bed and much to his surprise he could move his two new automail limbs. He looked directly down at his streamlined silver arm; it was an interesting mix of technology and metal. Unlike the usual piece of automail from his home, this was very much different which meant that Ed would have a lot to learn before he could use alchemy the way he would on his old arm.

"Ah man, this means I literally have to go back to school to learn all about the chemicals that make up a lot of stuff in this world. Guess it will be interesting to see once I learn them all though, bet I could do a lot of interesting things with alchemy." Ed spoke as he slid out of the hospital bed; everything had already been disconnected from his body in regards to the IV and the other infirmary equipment.

"Well hello there Ed," Dr. McCoy commented as he entered the room. "I left you some clothes on that chair there, and then I'll sort of give you the five cent tour of the institute. You definitely don't want to stay in this room any longer; most people find it not very pleasurable to end up in here."

"Thanks," Ed stated in discomfort, he was still trying to figure out exactly what Dr. McCoy was if he wasn't a chimera.

Ed grabbed the clothes walking rather slowly over to the bathroom to get used to his new leg. He took his time changing into the sweatpants and t-shirt; luckily he also found a pair of black boxers to wear along with them. Granted this would have to be temporary because he really didn't like these clothes as he changed finally stepped outside of the changing room.

"I don't really know what to think of you, but I guess you can't be all bad since you did help me out. You really do look like a chimera, so for me it's very confusing. By the way could you explain all of the chemicals and materials that make up my arm and leg in detail?" Ed asked as he bowed his head slightly in response to the man.

"Of course, but that will be a very long discussion. Your limbs are made out of a combination of things, but how about I write all of the ingredients and their chemical make up on a piece of paper for you. That should make things easier, but first let's go take this tour." Dr. McCoy replied as he motioned for Ed to follow him out of the infirmary.

Ed followed him outside his mind taking in how the lowest level of the institute looked before speaking, "This is an interesting place, I've never seen a place quite like this before. It's so sterile and well cold looking."

"Hmm, well now that I think about it, I guess the lowest level is that way. That's because we mostly use this level for training, storage, emergencies, and a few other situations. Now I should probably tell you that we have a lot of people around your age here, so like all new arrivals you'll be bombarded with questions." Dr. McCoy responded as Ed nodded slightly the two stopping in front of the elevator.

Ed was very much in surprise at the appearance of the elevator, elevators weren't very common at all in Central. In fact only the military had the technology to make an elevator and this surprised him. He and Al had been surprised about it at first, but it became rather common just like this one was. Still Ed couldn't help but wonder what else was in store for him at this place.

"So long as this place isn't run by the military, I don't have a problem with most questions." Ed retorted as he followed what he considered to be a chimera into an elevator.

The doors slid open to the second floor of the institute at the most unfortunate time. Ed watched as a rather angry looking girl of an ethnicity he had never seen before chased after a guy holding a book. The girl was clearly very irritated while the boy much to Ed's surprise was manipulating ice to cover the book. Bobby however wasn't paying attention where he was going and bumped into a very expensive vase causing it to fall off of the table it was standing on.

"Great job Bobby, now give that back to me right now." Jubilee barked as Bobby shrugged and handed over his prize so to speak, he literally had bigger problems when Dr. McCoy had witnessed the entire situation.

"Okay, I'm so sorry Dr. McCoy, I really didn't, well I wasn't watching were I was going." Bobby stated as he looked over at Ed realizing the new guy was on a tour and had seen the whole thing.

Ed merely ignored Bobby and walked over to the broken vase, gathering all of the pieces in one place. 'Now is a good a time as any to see how well my alchemy works, and fixing this thing should be a piece of cake. I've done things like this a thousand times, it isn't exactly rocket science.' Ed thought as he clapped his hands together a familiar blue hue appearing as he placed his hands down near the vase.

The vase slowly reassembled itself from Ed's point of view, the fact was he was using very little alchemy because of the fact he was worried how his new limbs would respond. The fact was the limbs responded quite well and easily allow him to use alchemy; in fact the right arm and hand did a lot better job of handling the alchemy than the ones that Winry had designed for him. He took a step back as Bobby, Jubilee and Dr. McCoy looked at what Ed had just done, it was shocking to say the least.

"Whoa now that is cool." Bobby yelled as the vase literally disappeared in the color and reappeared completely undamaged from the accident, even Dr. McCoy was left shocked at what Ed had just done.

'Ed just reintegrated an object that was completely destroyed and what's more he didn't even seem to have to make an effort to do it. Is this what he was referring to as alchemy, this is absolutely fascinating. I will have to ask them to describe his abilities in more detail; this could be an utterly fascinating discovery.' Dr. McCoy thought as he touched the vase without giving it a second thought to make sure it was whole.

"Dude is that your ability because I mean that is just so cool, not as cool as mind but still you just saved me." Bobby spoke as Ed walked around the vase to make sure everything turned out as it should have.

Ed merely shrugged his shoulders before responding, "I don't understand what the big deal is about, and alchemy is commonplace where I'm from. I mean all kinds of people can use alchemy, granted some are pretty stupid about it, so it's kind of odd you can't do it. Isn't it common here? I mean that manipulation of ice could be an advanced form of alchemy, after all I've seen alchemist who have used fire and spikes before."

"Alchemy doesn't exist here, in fact although we made efforts many centuries ago it just never worked here. The principles were considered scientifically unsound and well it never succeeded in making common metals into gold or silver." Dr. McCoy stated as Ed looked at him in surprise, now understanding why they were so surprised about what he had done.

"I don't understand, but I'm sure that Professor Xavier guy will explain the messed jumble of images in my head." Ed stated as he crossed his arms waiting for the tour to continue. "Oh yeah the name's Ed, try not to break anything else. I'm not a repairman, so keep that in mind the next time you do something like this."

"Man I can't wait to tell the others what the new guy can do; this could be the best thing that has ever happened to us. A guy that could fix all of the damage we call without us getting into trouble, it just has so much potential. He's kind of short though," Bobby whispered to Jubilee as Ed started to walk away following Dr. McCoy.

"Yeah I know," Jubilee whispered back, "don't get your hopes up to much though, he doesn't seem thrilled about being a repairman. Well I'm going to go see what the others are doing, oh and Bobby never ever take my diary again."

"Hey who the hell are you calling short? You want to end up stuck in that floor keep on talking," Ed barked both of them surprised that the young man had heard them whispering.

Bobby merely nodded, jokes were all well and good but Jubilee had a nasty temper when it came to her belongings so to speak, at least lately any way. He also didn't know exactly what this new guy could do besides fixing things, so for once he decided to err on the side of caution that and well you couldn't exactly do something with an adult standing right there. Ed on the other hand was following the man that looked like a chimera down a well decorated hall with many doors along the path.

'Great now I sound like an old man, but its true alchemy isn't some great thing to repair all damaged goods with. There is a price to it and I don't want them thinking that they can just use me as a repairman as they see fit. What doesn't make sense though is that they can't transmute gold, even though it's a capital offense it's still quite easy to do where I come from.' Ed thought as Dr. McCoy motioned for him to follow.

"Your ability, you continually call it alchemy, I have to admit that I wonder why you do so. Are you afraid of admitting what you are?" Dr. McCoy asked curious as to what Ed's true intentions about the situation were.

Ed stopped for a moment seeming to think about his question before responding, "I don't really know what you are implying but I'm telling you the truth. I'm an alchemist nothing more and nothing less, I mean all of you are acting like you have never seen alchemy before."

"That is because well, we haven't. Ed, you are completely unique in this world, you are probably the only person that can use that ability. While you might see the ability as something commonplace, we see it as a special gift that not many individuals are born with." Dr. McCoy responded as he led the young man to an empty room. "This will be your room while you stay here."

Ed stopped for a moment starring at the inside of the room; it was like that mansion in the mining town. He had never, not once had such a nice accommodation like this and now this guy was just handing him this room. Ed immediately turned to look at his host, judging his reaction before looking over the spacious and well furnished room. A big bed, a nice window, large closet, and a private bathroom were all included as Ed looked the room over.

"So what's the catch?" Ed asked, he knew from experience that something like this didn't come without a catch.

"There is no catch, you simply must behave yourself and if you decide to stay to hone and train your abilities." Dr. McCoy stated as Ed shook his head in disbelief.

"Some how I don't buy that," Ed started as he walked toward his tour guide, "you see I still partially believe in Equivalent Exchange and that means that you guys have to get something out of this for me to get this nice place to stay at and these new limbs. Very few people do things simply because it's the right or just thing to do."

Next Chapter: Exchange part 3

Ed wonders around the institute eventually ending up in the Danger Room showing off his alchemy for everyone to see. Major problems however are building when the Professor discovers something in Cerebro that makes him wonder if finding Ed was as easy as he thought.


	3. Exchange Part 3

**AN: Well it's been a while since I've updated this fic and well I would like to thank a particular reviewer for reigniting my spirit for this fic. blaznXrapture, you have my thanks for helping me to get this thing started again**.** Otherwise you probably would have to wait longer for an update. I did this rather quickly so I'll probably post it and post a few revised chapters later to handle any situations that come up. Also I do have a forum that I advise the readers of this fic to post their ideas or things they would like to see. By doing this you can help me make the chapters that much faster because it allows me to bounce ideas off of people or come up with things that make the fic more enjoyable for us all. For those of you who have been so patiently looking forward to this next chapter, I hope it lives up to your expectations. As always take it easy and enjoy.**

Edward Elric took his time walking on his own around the institute. He would occasionally stop and look at a painting or something else that caught his attention. Television had caught his eye for a moment before he walked off utterly confused by a music video that Ray, Roberto and Tabitha were watching. Now he had stopped in front of a suit of armor, and for just a moment he thought he saw it change into his little brother.

"Hiya shortie," Tabitha yelled as Ed's face twisted before he yelled right back. "I'm not short damn it!"

"Ooh touchie, any way I was wondering if you could tell us about your home and stuff. Everyone wants to hear the new guy's story." Tabby spoke an enthusiastic tone coming out of her voice.

Ed sighed slightly before speaking, "Look now isn't the best time for me, maybe later."

'I'm not dealing with this right now; I've got other things to worry about. I'm not the only one that went into that gate, which means somewhere around here Envy and my old man are around. Just great and I didn't exactly kick Envy's ass the last time I saw her. I need to kick some ass; this is just making me angrier.' Ed thought as he walked away from the disappointed girl, he eventually made his way to the Professor's office.

Ed grabbed his head quickly as the Professor sent a message for him to come on in. Shaking his head the alchemist found it very hard to process that this man could communicate with mere thoughts, something that even he thought was impossible. Opening the door, the young blond haired man took a seat in a nice chair.

"Ed, I was hoping you would stop by, what do you think of the institute?" Xavier asked as the young man watched him carefully.

"Well in all honesty, I'm still having a hard time believing this is true. Granted seeing is believing and all that garbage, but this is a very nice place." Ed started as he relaxed in his chair. "A nice place, but I have to know what the damn catch is. No one would do this just out of the goodness out of their heart. I was also hoping you could help me make sense out of that jumble of bull you sent into my head."

Professor Xavier smiled politely before speaking, "I see well my reason for creating this place was so the gifted could learn to control their abilities. It is my dream that those with gifts like ours can live in peace with normal human beings."

"Peace huh, sounds like a very noble and grand goal. Honestly though, I don't know if that's a possibility based on the experiences that I have seen. Then again, maybe this world is different from mine." Ed replied as the Professor listened to him carefully.

'This student sounds a lot like Logan, and I have to wonder how experienced he really is in combat. He sounds like he has definitely been through a lot in order to say such a thing with that much conviction. If I help him understand the current situation then perhaps he might share more with us.' Professor Xavier thought as Ed seemed to be observing his every reaction and movement.

"Let me try and explain the situation about this world more clearly, perhaps that will help you understand what is going on…" Professor Xavier started as he went into great details about the world's history.

In another part of the institute Dr. Hank McCoy was checking on something that he had been asked to look into. It had been unusual finding Ed like that and the fact was Xavier was no longer sure he was a mutant, so Dr. McCoy was looking at diagnostic reports on Cerebro. Lifting the unit that went over the head up, he opened an internal compartment to check out some parts.

'Hmm this is unusual; according to the diagnostics this computer chip malfunctioned when the Professor located Ed. The curious part is why this part, it serves no purpose other then regulating energy consumption. It wouldn't need to send a computer signal unless…hmm most interesting.' Hank thought as he reached for a screwdriver and started to remove the offending device.

"Hank, are you down here?" Ororo Monroe asked as she carried a tray of food for the man that normally spent all of his time working.

"Ah yes, Ororo over here." Hank started as he noticed the tray of food and set everything he was working on down. "It's dinner time; I must have been way too occupied. My deepest gratitude for bringing me supper yet again, I seem to have lost track of time yet again."

Ororo walked forward handing him the tray before speaking, "That's okay, Charles said you were doing some important work and that I should bring this down to you. How is your work going by the way?"

"Very intriguing is the only way to say it, I've found something that shouldn't have happened but did happen. I think some sustenance is just what I need to give me a fresh perspective on the situation." Hank answered as he took in the first bite of the food.

"Oh, well I'll be back down later to get the tray and any leftovers. Forge is still here if you need any help though." Ororo started as she slowly walked to the door. "If you need anything else…"

Hank merely nodded as he quickly ate his food, he was more interested in getting back to work then people at the moment. As he took another generous bite of his Salisbury steak, a sudden idea popped into his head maybe that was the reason why they found Ed. It was the only plausible reason his mind for something like this to happen.

'It seems someone designed this device to send out a signal when Ed appeared. It would make him appear as a mutant, and whoever it was knew Xavier would send someone out after him. The question is who would do such a thing, why they did such a thing, and how they managed to pull his off?' Hank thought as he put the food aside and picked up right where he left off in his work.

Back upstairs with Ed, the young blond haired man had been listening carefully to everything that was being said. The entire history of the world seemed to be completely different then what the other world was like. Technology and science reigned supreme in this world, and the fact was that even the wars of the past were fought with technology that was barely starting out in Ed's world. He closed his eyes as he listened to the man move into the present and started talking about the increasing population of mutants.

Ed coughed slightly to get the man to stop before speaking, "So let me get this straight, the people here have a gene that causes them to develop special powers. You came for me because you think I'm also a mutant, is that the bulk of this stuff?"

"That's correct, I understand this is very confusing but it is the truth. This is a much different world then the one you came from Edward." Xavier started as he handed the young man a book about world history. "This should help give you a more detailed explanation of the current world. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"First, you can call me Ed. Next you can stop calling me a mutant, say it with me now, alchemist. That's what I am, and now that you've been in my head you know it's true. Finally I'll be leaving as soon as I figure out how to get back home." Ed stated a more sarcastic tone then usual in his voice.

"Yes. I understand and I believe I know the perfect way for you to work off some steam. You are very agitated right now which is totally understandable, so I was wondering if you would like to use our training room to work out some of your anger issues." Xavier stated politely, this young man had anger issues much like another resident of the institute.

"Hmm is that so, well it sounds good to me. I want to look around this place some before I kick someone's ass. There is something else we need to talk about though, some other people made their way into this world besides me. I know of at least two and one has to be stopped before causing too much trouble." Ed spoke as his mind immediately went to the trouble that Envy could cause in this world.

"I see, so who would these individuals be exactly?" Charles Xavier asked concerned due to the possible threat to his students and Ed as well.

"First one probably isn't a threat, but if the gate sent me here then I'm willing to bet my father might be around here somewhere. I think I've been to this world before, but it's a lot different then it used to be. He's never around when you need him though so he really isn't a problem." Ed began as his distaste for his father showed up in his voice. "The other one is a problem though, Envy's a homunculi and well the best way to say it is that he can change her appearance to anyone he's met. To make matters worse…the only thing you need to know is that he isn't to be taken lightly."

'I can't tell him that he could possibly be unstoppable without the remains here, I'm not even sure if I can beat him after that last battle before I was sent here. I'll need to think of a way to beat him without them, but first I'll have to find him.' Ed thought as he was concerned that Envy could appear to attack him.

"Hmm, thank you for telling me this Edward. I'll be sure to start looking for your father right away. I'll also inform Logan about this Envy character so that we can find a way to deal with her. In many aspects she sounds like Mystique, but we'll talk about her later." Professor Xavier spoke as the young man seemed slightly agitated.

Ed shook his fist at the air before speaking, "If you happen to find my old man, he's probably as useless as ever. I'm not even sure if he's here just thinking about it pisses me off. So, who will I be training or fighting against?"

"Oh you won't be fighting against a real opponent, but holographic enemies and a training scenario. You can still be harmed, but none of the attacks will be fatal. It's just something too…" Professor Xavier stated as Ed cut him off.

"What the hell are holograms? Forget it, I'll just find out when I get there. Two hours, that should be enough to check this place out and learn what I need to know. What's the name of the place before I go though?" Ed retorted as waited as patiently as he could for an answer.

"The Danger Room, you wont have a hard time finding it if you ask anyone here." Charles Xavier answered as the young man nodded and left the room.

'It seems our new resident is a very temperamental individual. He reminds me of Logan except a bit more sarcastic; however, I know he's speaking the truth about being from another world. He's not a mutant, which begs the question why Cerebro picked him up as one. Hmm, I'll just have to wait until Hank gets done with the maintenance check to start answering that question. In the meantime I better talk to Logan about this Envy person, she could be just as bad if not worse then Mystique.' Charles thought as he leaned his upper body against his desk.

As Charles stood there lost in thought about the situation, Ed was walking down the halls of the institute. The young man had taken a few turns and ended up in another part of the institute lined with doors. Like a normal guy, Ed just continued walking down the hall until he came to a dead end and decided to turn around. It was at that time however that a petite and pale, brunette girl had stepped out of her room.

"Like hello there, you must be Edward right? You are like kinda short though; I thought you would be taller." Kitty asked as the rumors of the new guy had already swirled around the institute.

Ed's face literally started twitching before yelling, "The name's Ed and for the last damn time I'm not short. Why is it everywhere I go people comment on my height?"

"Sorry I didn't mean to…" Kitty started as a pouting look appeared on her face causing Ed to momentarily stop his rampage.

"Fine its okay, so what's your name? Its rude to not introduce yourself you know." Ed commented as the girl started to smile at him.

"My name's Kitty, I'm also called Shadowcat around here. I can phase my molecules through solid matter, like this." Kitty started as she phased her arm through a wall causing Ed's eyes to widen. "So what can you do?"

"Guess I can show you what I can do, hmm I'll use this suit of armor here." Ed stated as he pressed his hands together and touched the statue engulfing it a hazy blue light.

The suit of armor shifted shape and form as Kitty's mouth literally dropped open. Ed had just changed the armor into a mirror image of her, a metal statue of her. The fact was he had gotten every detail right as he stretched slightly and looked at his new arm. It had performed admirably during this usage of alchemy as well and Ed couldn't wait to try some of his older tricks with it.

"Like wow, that's incredible. You rearrange the molecules and change its shape into whatever you want. That means you could change any substance into something that makes things easier on you." Kitty stated as her mind was scientifically piecing everything she had seen together.

"Yeah whatever you say, but it's not as easy as you make it sound. It's bound by a lot of complex rules and there are some things that you shouldn't mess with naturally." Ed started as his voice started to fade into a whisper. "Believe me I know that to be the truth."

"Really, well you look lost. Would you like me to show you around?" Kitty asked as the young man merely nodded his head in agreement.

Kitty grabbed his left hand as she led him back down the hallway and then turned around so they could look down it. Pointing her left hand down the hallway, she managed to get the young man's attention.

"This here is the girl's wing of the institute, but you like want to avoid coming down here at night. Logan patrols the halls and he'll catch you for sure if you are down here." Kitty spoke as he nodded and she turned him towards the lobby.

"Okay and the other side is the boys' wing, so we can head downstairs now right." Ed spoke as the perky girl nodded her head in agreement.

"Yeah, this is like a foyer for guest and to the left is the new game room so to speak. TV, videogames, pool, music, and so on. It's pretty popular when everyone can agree on something." Kitty started as the two walked down the stairs and moved down a hallway. "What you probably want to know though is where the kitchen is right?"

Ed's stomach started to rumble right when he started to speak, "I guess that would be right."

As the two walked into the kitchen, Kitty quickly opened up the refrigerator showing him more food then he ever thought possible. All Ed could hope for was that it didn't taste like the gruel the state would serve for the most part. If you weren't a colonel or higher, you pretty much got the same slop as the enlisted. Staring at all of the food, Ed had to stop himself from drooling as he was handed a slice of pizza.

"What's this thing? Obviously its food, but I've never seen food like this before." Ed commented as Kitty started to giggle in response.

"Its pizza, how could you not know what pizza is. Its like totally universal, it's served everywhere." Kitty began as the young man shook his head before taking a bite of a cold piece of leftover pizza. "No, you don't eat it as is, you stick in the microwave first."

Kitty literally yanked the slice right out of his hand tossing it into the microwave for a minute and handed the warm slice right back to Ed. Ed was slightly disappointed that she took his food, but went right back to eating almost shocked that the food was now slightly hot instead of cold.

"Look, I'm not used to having all of this stuff, so you'll just have to help me out okay? There wasn't a manual to all this crap when I got here after all." Ed retorted as he tried to keep his usual sarcasm to a minimum.

Kitty smiled again before speaking, "Look don't worry about it, like I should have thought of that too. It's not the first time we've had someone here totally unfamiliar with technology. Amara was even worse then you when she got here, the toaster literally freaked her out."

"Okay…look I got to get to a place called the Danger Room so I can kick some ass. If you wouldn't mind could you show me that place now. I think I've got everything down here and if I don't there are a lot of people to ask." Ed replied as Kitty just started walking motioning for him to follow her.

She stopped in front of the elevator that Ed had rode on earlier, and went back down to the lowest level of the institute. It felt slower this time to Ed or maybe it was just because he had been totally lost in thought a lot lately. As soon as the elevator stopped the two stepped out and walked a short distance before stopping in front of a pair of massive doors.

"This is like the entrance for the Danger Room, good luck you'll need it. First though you'll need to change into a training uniform, believe me you'll be glad you did later on today." Kitty commented as she walked off, she was surprised to find a lot of people in the control room.

'Luck, huh, this probably won't be that hard compared to what I've been through. Oh well I'll just do things how I usually do them.' Ed thought as the massive doors opened and he walked inside of a large empty room.

Up in the control room, Logan stood there leaning up against the wall adjusting the difficulty. All he was waiting for was Xavier and then they could get started. He barely acknowledged anyone until the man finally arrived and turned on the microphone. The control room was rather crowded as most of the X-men with the exception of Rogue and a few of the New Mutants were eagerly waiting to see what the new guy can do. As for Ed, he just slid into a basic combat stance that his teacher had taught him.

"Ed, the goal of this exercise is to make it from point A to point B in one piece. Be prepared for a few things, this is going to be a bit harder then the usual introductory course we use." Professor Xavier started as he gave Logan the signal after turning the microphone off. "Put it on level 7 Logan, I think that Ed is a bit more talented than the usual new recruit."

"You sure about that Charles, shortie there probably will get tossed around a bit in this one. He'll do better than the kids though, that's for sure. He might not look like it but that stance he has taken is like a few martial arts styles." Logan growled as he activated the machine and the environment began to change.

Ed was watching the scene slightly fascinated as pieces of the floor started to move and stun weapons started to appear out of the wall. Finally a large set of robotic droids appeared marching out in front of Ed before pointing there weapons at him. It only took a moment for what seemed like a wall of lasers being shot at him, he barely had time to use alchemy to erect his usual style of barrier to protect him.

'This shouldn't be that hard, I already have a plan for dealing with them.' Ed thought as he touched his hands again and placed them down on the ground.

The others could only watch as large stone fists started appearing from underneath the droids and sending them flying into the air. Droids landed on the ground with a hollow metallic thud as more were sent to challenge Ed. Taking a deep breath Ed noticed a few had managed to get out of the way, he smiled again as he touched his hands again this time creating his familiar short sword attached to his mechanical arm.

In the control room, Logan watched with interest before speaking, "Seems shortie there fancies short range combat. He didn't even bother with the weapons on the wall; he's just letting that barrier of his block them. Let's see how he handles them when they start tracking his movements."

"He's holding his own against them, that iz very impressive." Kurt stated as he watched the young man twirl around and slice one of the droid's head clear off.

Professor Xavier flipped the microphone on before speaking, "Ed, we can up the difficulty if this isn't enough for you."

"Nope this is just fine, I need to see how the arm and leg perform in situations like this any way." Ed retorted as he slid on the ground and used his right hand to launch a spin kick into one of the droid's chest.

Stabbing the sharp short sword into the droid, Ed ran along as he rolled to the left. Touching the ground again the familiar blue glow appeared as he pulled a spear out of the ground. Charging forward Ed slammed into two of the droids using the sharp part of the spear to literally run the two through before letting go and launching another attack with his sword like arm.

"As much fun as this is, I better stop showing off so much. These things are starting to become annoying." Ed muttered as he slashed another droid's head clear off.

Ed however, was still just messing around as he easily dodged the attacks and retaliated. His teacher's training methods were much harder then this and these droids did nothing but stop and shoot at him. They really had no counter once you made it past a certain point was the laser basically became useless. The bigger problem however was the set of laser defenses embedded in the wall, they were following him now and firing at his every moment. More then a few times, he had bit hit by the lasers tearing small holes into the training uniform he was wearing.

"Damn, this might be a bit harder then I thought…who the hell thought up these damn things, I destroy one and two more take its place." Ed yelled as he stopped and ran off taking cover behind a series of pillars he had created to protect himself from the lasers.

'Hmm well if this is how it's going to be I'll just have to improvise. I think I know how to stop those little defense things.' Ed thought as he ran out and weaved in and out of the incoming blasts.

In a surprising turn of events, Ed clapped his hands together again. This time he slammed his hands down and a wave of iron spikes impaled the defenses. Using the technique one last time, he disabled all of the defenses before doing alchemy one last time. This time he created a binding prison to hold any droid that was left standing, much like he had done to Greed in the past. Running to the finish line, Ed smiled as he finished the exercise and the situation ended.

In the control room Logan was the first to speak, "Well that wasn't half bad for a midget."

"I heard that, why don't you come down and say that to my face. Damn people always making fun of my height." Ed bellowed with an angry tone as he finally changed his arm back to its normal shape.

Professor Xavier coughed slightly to interrupt the two before speaking, "Very good Ed, you performed very well during the exercise. Why don't you get cleaned up and we can talk about your performance later."

"Sure whatever, I'll be in my room. I need a shower and thanks for letting me blow off some steam." Ed stated sincerely as he left the danger room.

The control room was a mixture of emotions; Ed had just outdone the New Mutants single-handedly. Not to mention that he out performed some members of the X-men, it was an interesting sight. Professor Xavier had leaned forward reading some data that had been gathered on Ed while the exercise was occurring. He leaned forward hearing Hank contact him as he went over the data and he didn't want to alarm his students about the possibility of something being wrong with Cerebro.

"Whoa iz all I can say, that waz fantastic." Kurt commented as a few agreed with his sentiment about the situation.

"Like I heard about the plant and that statute was cool but I never thought he could do things like that. It makes me wonder if we saw everything he can do." Kitty said as Scott looked over at Jean.

"What do you think about this, Jean?" Scott asked as he always valued others opinions, but it wasn't a secret that he valued hers a lot more then most.

"He's good Scott; I guess he's a very promising recruit if we can work past his…" Jean started as the Professor stopped her.

"I realize you are all interested in the new resident, but I need to go over these results in private. If you would all excuse me for the time being. Logan, we'll talk about his placement later, if he decides to stay." Professor Xavier spoke as he loaded the data onto a CD Rom and slowly wheeled out of the room.

"Sure Chuck, you okay?" Logan asked a tone of concern in the usual husky voice; this wasn't normal behavior for the man in his opinion.

"Yes Logan, I appreciate your concern but I assure you it isn't necessary. It appears that today and the next few days are going to be very busy for me and probably everyone else at the institute. Now if you would excuse me Hank needs me in the lab." Xavier replied as everyone nodded and accepted the explanation that had been given to them.

'This is very surprising data indeed, I never expected for Ed to perform like this. He clearly learned how to fight somewhere and if what I saw was true then he would be the youngest person to ever have military experience as an active member.' Xavier started thinking as he turned left towards Hank's lab. 'However, I'm not totally for certain if he is or isn't a mutant. I'll have Hank run a test on his blood for the mutant gene before making any more lead way with this material. Still he is a gifted individual and this is a place for the gifted.'

As he entered Hank's lab, Charles couldn't help but laugh at the mess that was in the room. Like most scientist Hank was neat to a point but the room was shared with Forge when he visited and between the two things could get quite messy. The large form of his friend was sitting in a rolling chair hunched over at a microscope looking at something as he motioned for his friend to take a look.

"Hello Charles, I believe that I've found the problem. It's quite the unexpected conundrum, but part of it may have been solved." Hank began as he moved aside allowing his friend to take a look. "This piece is integral to the function of Cerebro, but it seems to have sent out an unusual signal when Ed appeared. I haven't completely discovered what it sent out but it definitely has a connection to him."

"Hmm, quite the problem this would appear to be. This part was purchased after the mansion was destroyed, so it had to be preprogrammed to do this kind of thing." Xavier stated as Hank nodded in agreement.

Hank wheeled over in his chair to a computer before speaking, "Yes, that would be correct. I believe we may need to contact Stark Enterprises about this, they are the company that supplied us with this particular chip and we have never had a problem with anything they have supplied us before this situation."

"Very well, I'll contact Stark and see if he can shed some light on this situation. I would like you to continue researching the chip and see what you can come up with regarding Ed. In the meantime however, I would like you to run the usual battery of tests on the sample of Ed's blood that was collected before he underwent his surgery." Xavier spoke as the two sighed slightly before both decided to head off to work.

Next Chapter: Unforgotten Memories

Ed spends some quality time with the members of the X-men but when an old face appears on the television, his anger surfaces. In order to get him to calm down a few people take him out to see the town. In the meantime Xavier speaks with Tony Stark about the problematic computer chip.


End file.
